EARNINGS

Cisco sales miss estimates

Cisco Systems reported quarterly sales that fell short of analysts' estimates amid a slowdown in government spending and increased competition for sales of low-cost networking equipment.

Fiscal first-quarter revenue was $12.1 billion, the San Jose company said Wednesday. Analysts expected $12.3 billion.

Profit was $2 billion (37 cents per share), down 5 percent from $2.09 billion (39 cents) a year earlier.

Cisco's board authorized $15 billion in additional stock buybacks.

Chief Executive Officer John Chambers has cut prices to bolster sales of traditional switches and routers, seeking to fend off competition from Huawei Technologies, Juniper Networks and Hewlett-Packard. The federal government shutdown in October also weighed on sales, because about 8 percent of Cisco's revenue comes from federal spending, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group.

CRIME

Teen arrested in online threat

A Philadelphia teenager posted nonpublic information about a 2012 shooting on his Twitter feed, police said, and that material was later posted to an Instagram account being scrutinized for divulging information about witnesses to crimes in the city.

The 17-year-old was taken into custody after being charged with witness intimidation and terrorist threats, police said Wednesday. The charges come as investigators examine how the now-closed Instagram account titled "rats215," a reference to Philadelphia's area code, obtained affidavits and photos of victims and witnesses in criminal cases.

CREDIT RATINGS

S&P wants state protection

Standard & Poor's is asking a judge to rule that its credit ratings are opinions protected by a California law meant to block lawsuits filed by the powerful to intimidate the weak.

Facing a $1 billion lawsuit by state Attorney General Kamala Harris over its assessments of mortgage-backed securities, the company said in court filings that its ratings are similar to newspaper editorials and shielded by a 1992 California statute barring meritless lawsuits intended to bully targets.

"From a free speech perspective, there's no more dangerous opponent than the state," Floyd Abrams, S&P's attorney, said at a hearing Wednesday in San Francisco.

S&P made a similar argument in a lawsuit filed by the California Public Employees' Retirement System that, like Harris's case, alleges that S&P inflated credit assessments of investments backed by subprime mortgages purchased by state pension funds that later collapsed. While the judge in that case found credit ratings are a form of free speech protected by the law, he ruled last year that CalPERS had shown sufficient evidence to let negligence claims against S&P go forward. S&P has appealed that decision.